Marine Senate Candidate's Family Maxes Out Donations to Opponent's Campaign

February 13, 2018

A Wisconsin Senate candidate’s parents have donated the maximum amount of money to his opponent.
It’s almost unheard of for parents to root against their child in a competition, but that’s exactly the situation that’s playing out for Wisconsin Senate candidate Kevin Nicholson, the Republican son of two politically active Democrats.The former Marine is running for the Wisconsin Senate seat against Tammy Baldwin. According to a Federal Election Commission filing, Nicholson’s parents donated the maximum amount possible to Baldwin’s primary campaign in 2017.However, Nicholson is not surprised. He comes from a deeply Democratic family, and according to FEC records, his mother has donated hundreds to Baldwin and thousands of dollars to Democratic causes.“I’m a conservative today not because I was born one, but because of the experience I earned as a Marine in combat, my experience as a husband and father, my choice to be a Christian, the schools I chose to attend and the decision to pursue the career that I have,” he said in a statement to CNN .Nicholson was once a Democrat and was the president of the University of Minnesota’s chapter of College Democrats of America in 1999. However, he claims that his views changed once he went on deployment to Iraq and saw how poorly the Democratic Party handled what was happening in the Middle East.—WATCH: Sarah Sanders Fires Back at Press Leaking Classified Information: ‘Look Around This Room’“There’s no other way to put this; I was livid,” said Nicholson to Politico . “I knew what we were doing there. We were stabilizing that country. We made incredible amounts of progress. And what I was hearing back home was a complete and absolute lie, as politicians were running around calling it a failure.”While Nicholson stands in opposition to the Democratic Party, he understands that his parents have the right to oppose his views.“My parents have a different worldview than I do, and it is not surprising that they would support a candidate like Tammy Baldwin who shares their perspective,” he said.While it’s unusual that Nicholson’s parents have shown so much support for their son’s opponent, it is an example of how incredible and diverse America can be.